Bitless Pony Training

March 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Most horse folks accept the bit as a obligatory instrument that’s usually used when training, riding or driving a horse. But does, invariably, actually mean that bits are essential?

Not really. Don’t know if you’ve ever witnessed the fabulous sight of horsemen riding the California and Vaquero styles, but they use no bits? At least, not until such time as their horses are assumed past their prime.

I often hear and read somebody claiming that ‘I get more control with the bit’ I even saw a horse forum post once advising readers on the best bits to use with halters to maintain ‘more control’, do you really want to know what bits? My answer is NONE! I have addressed the issue of pony control in another article. I think about this issue to be of great criticality.

Before going on to anything more, I begin with 2 long lines on each horse I handle. That also suggests I chuck in 2 rings, a surcingle and a halter with the long lines. Almost inevitably, my first coaching is on stops. I take the horse on a slow walk and at some particular point command him to stop with a ‘Whoa!’ I stop walking myself, and that means the pony continues on into the longs lines and the halter. This applies strain on the horse’s nose. He comes to a stop, and I ease off the pressure.

It has been my experience that no horse ever took more than a day to work out that it was far smarter to stop immediately at the command ‘Whoa!’ than to keep on on and grind into the halter and the lines. I achieve twin objectives with this: I assert an oral command’s domination and I teach the horse to respond to very slight pressure.

Is it actually possible to ride a pony with merely a halter? It is pretty much possible , though there may not be much to show by way of elegance.

You can resort to either the, Hackamore, or the Bosal. I am biased in favour of the Spanish-looking Bosal. If you trained your horse with long lines, you should find this a breeze. The basic trick’s to train your horse to respond to the lightest pressure.

This also allows you to surmount some problems associated with bits.

Unless you are a perfect rider with long experience, you would tend to apply pressure on the bit unwittingly. That clearly makes it extremely uncomfortable and confusing for your pony. When you’re starting out with a pony, it won’t give you perfect stops immediately. That compels you to heap on some pressure. This in turn leads to the pony giving more attention to the discomfort it feels than to your cues.

Possibly the biggest disadvantage of bits is that riders have a tendency to rely completely on them, and sooner or later they lose their efficacy because the horses get inured to them. To compensate, riders use bits with increased leverage, leading to another cycle that ends in futility.

You achieve great coordination when you train horses without bits because they reach much greater sensitivity.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about horse blanket

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Tailor Lunge Equipment To Your Horses

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you are working with an item of pony apparatus, the very first thing you wish to do is get an excellent idea of what the standard or recommended settings for that item are.

This applies enormously to lunging equipment. It is extremely important that you’ve got a complete grip on the best fit, particularly if you have several horses and only one or two hardware kits, as is often the case. Sharing must be steered clear of in yards or pastures with masses of horses, as skin conditions may be transferred. If we are talking about a private yard with just two or three horses, sharing lunging equipment may not be a major issue The issue arises that arise though are because unlike any other gear, lunge rollers and lunge cavesson are terribly flexible and adaptable and are capable of working with a large number of horses.

It is smart to have the slip head under the cavesson when lunging equipment is being fitted on. The slip head bit must sit such that it causes a small wrinkle in the horse’s mouth corners. If you use your fingers to make a contact with the bit, there should be no significant movement of the cheek pieces. Where the cavesson is concerned, nose bands must be separated by the width of 2 fingers from the base of either side’s cheekbone. This way the nose bands aren’t allowed to rub against the cheekbone, nor can they slide downward and meddle with the animal’s breathing. The nose band must be fastened firmly without being constrictive: you have to be able to slip in 2 fingers at the front and the back. If the nose band is too tight, it’ll cause lots of discomfort to the pony. A lot of lunge cavessons come with a 2nd strap that goes on just below the jaw. This strap should be tied firmly; when too loose, it’ll cause the cavesson to slide round while lunging is in progress.

Lunge rollers are rather straightforward uncomplicated stuff. They fit in just at the back of the withers, at about the point where a saddle’s front would sit. A correctly trimmed pad or piece of saddle cloth may be inserted beneath the roller to maximize comfort. Try and get the lunge roller girth even on both sides. Ideally, it should be at the half way position on each side to stop pinching.

You can lunge with other items like a saddle and bridle on the pony, but you must ensure the stirrups are secured such that they don’t keep crashing against the sides of the pony. You should also take care about the intensity of any contact when you lunge with a bridle, because the lunge line goes straight to the mouth of the horse and thus may be much more harsh than just a cavesson. You may use this solution, though, with ignorant or extraordinarily strong horses. It is advisable that you talk over all angles with your coach, and customise your lunging equipment to suit each individual horse. You need to follow the same principle with training aids and pretty much all the other horse rigs. There are variations in the hundreds or perhaps thousands, and each difference incorporates its own distinct action and mechanism. Ensure you are fully informed of how each rig works and discuss it first with any expert you find at the tack shop you made your acquisition of that rig from. Then ask your trainer.

Ultimately, keep in mind when fitting on lunge rigs that the quality of material you are using will have a bearing on the fit. Just to name an example: leather lunge cavessons when correctly worked in get into a snug fit that helps prevent chafing. But nylon and webbing are similarly appropriate, so try and keep your options open. Make your final calls according to your specific requirements.

Irrespective of which lunging rig you choose, confirm it is appropriate for your pony. Give its fit, both in motion and at halt, an in depth examination. You may wish to get some other people also to have a look over all of it for you, just in case you missed out on something somewhere. If the consensus is that the fit is great, then commence your lunging sessions with your horse content that he’s experiencing no discomfort with his new rig.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about stable rugs

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Leather Or Synthetic Horse Riding Gear

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As a zealous and concerned horse rider, you want to make sure that each piece of equipment you use is appropriate and doesn’t cause the horse or the rider any discomfort. This holds good for the bridle: choosing a bridle for your pony is not a problem to be treated trivially, and you should take many factors into account when doing this.

Horse owners are keen on talking about the pros and cons of leather bridles versus synthetic ones. Plenty of them have extremely powerful views on this matter. Some of them like the feel and strength that comes with the best leather bridles, while others lay great store by the lightness and dexterity of synthesised bridles, which are also extremely easy to scrub. A lot of horse riders are fine with whatever is available.

Traditionally, tack for horses, whether saddles or bridles, has been made from leather. Leather is considered stylish and of lasting quality, and because of this, is regarded as a good buy. Leather has great durability mixed with great looks that means a bridle of leather can last a long time and still look good as it ages. Well maintained leather becomes soft and flexible, and does not rub, deteriorate or irritate, which are qualities some synthesised materials have. Overall, the great majority of people consider leather to be the superior raw material for bridles. If your interest is in showing and competition, then you’d be smart to purchase a leather bridle instead of a synthesised one.

It is true that leather sometimes costs lots more than synthetic material. Handiwork is a major element of the cost to leather products. You don’t get much craftsmanship with synthetic material.

At the day’s end, what should steer you when you purchase anything for your pony is this rule of gold: always buy the best quality that is available. Let cost be the less important consideration. You may land up paying rather more for a leather bridle, but that bridle is going to outlast and outperform the synthetic ones!

In some examples, synthetic bridles do have their uses. They’re used often in equine sport events like endurance, where it’s very important to load the horse as lightly as practical. For the same reasons, synthesised bridles work better with young and as yet not entirely broken horses. Synthesised material is also really easy to wash and maintain, typically a wipe with a bit of cloth, sometimes wet, is satisfactory to get the synthetic bridle clean and shiny again. However , synthetic material does have a tendency to look worn or frayed much faster than leather, and if it is continually washed, it may twist or warp and look uneven. While this should not affect the bridle’s efficacy, it does take away from the sort of smart look that you wish to portray when you’re on your horse.

The selection of bridle eventually lies with the rider, and you must base your decision on the use you intend to put your horse to, and at all points you shouldn’t forget: get your pony the best stuff that you can.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about equestrian products

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Summer Fly Control And Your Horse

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you’re keeping your pony in suburban areas with neighbours close by, possibilities are good you’re going to face flak from neighbors who are getting pestered by flies. Fly control in open country is a totally different story from fly control in the suburban areas.

There are a few techniques you can resort to for the purpose of resolving this issue.

Irrespective of how clean you keep your horse’s environment, it is going to draw flies. There is this distinct advantage to cleanliness: the cleaner the environment, the less the flies.

One way is to hang up those traditional fly papers and fly traps. You should take care that they’re out of reach of horses and youngsters. Another choice is fly baits, with the same proviso. If your bank account allows it, you might get a pesticide mist system installed in your stable or barn. While such a system can play a large role in reducing fly populations, it is harmless to horses. Other techniques that work are water traps and bags. I put a water and vinegar mix in these gadgets, along with a bit of vegetable oil.

Yet another system that does a good job is to feed supplements with larvicide to your horses. These supplements do not harm your horses, but prevent fly breeding in horse fertilizer. You get the finest results when you start feeding your pony these supplements when spring has just set in and the flies haven’t begun to appear. You can maintain these supplements until winter subsequently starts to set in.

You may apply fly repellents and sprays to your horses. As fly sprays can be rather costly if you have lots of horses, you are able to save cash by making your own. My regular recipe is to mix some apple vinegar with some baby oil, add fabric softener and load the concoction into an a spray bottle. It is something that has worked fine for me for an extended period of time now. You want to take care about one thing: if you’re intending to ride your horse shortly, make certain you don’t spray him before saddling him. The baby oil in the mixture works as a lubricant which will have your saddle sliding around. It might not make for an enjoyable ride.

If you do a little bit of browsing online, you’ll come across lots of other natural recipes for making repellents. And by the way, do definitely remember to get a quality fly blanket and mask to prevent flies from annoying your horse.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about horse show cloths

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How To Select A Pony Trainer

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Horses are useful to man for several different reasons but they can be dangerous if not fully tamed and properly trained. Before you can enjoy your horse riding and compete in dressage events, you’ve got to make sure your horse is tamed and trained to do the activities you intend to partake in. And that’s where a professional coach would be of help.

As the equestrian, you are responsible to unlock your mare’s maximum potential, and it’s the horse trainer’s task to help do so. The trainer will help condition your mare, prepare her attitude for more training in line with your selected discipline for her.

To find a good coach, search out any recommendations from your fellow equine owners or other equine fans. You can also ask the veterinarian since the vet must have handled a fair number of horse riders and would have heard their talk and comments, both good and bad, about local trainers if there’s any. The vet could have dealt with a horse trainer too. You may also ask for views and suggestions from owners or merchants at horse feed stores because, like the vet, they would have been in business for for a while and dealt with many horse riders, horse owners, and trainers. More good resources are advertisements from newspapers, magazines, signage boards, and other literature especially those which target pony enthusiasts. You may also try a search on the Web. There are currently a number of sites catering to equine enthusiasts, hobbyists and professionals alike. You can use these sites not only to find a trainer but in addition to learn some suggestions when eventually hiring one and learn about accreditations given to trainers.

Wherever you opt to look for, or wherever you happen to come across, a trainer, conduct an interview with the trainer and an inspection of his facilities to be sure your mare will get the kind of training you want her to have. Certificates and accreditations are given to trainers by several equestrian training bodies and organizations.If the trainer has a certificate, it won’t only show you that the trainer is skilled in his craft, it will also supply you with a firm grasp on what kind of coaching method he’ll have your horse go through.

Consider getting feedback from previous clients. Selecting a trainer nonetheless , is unquestionably subject to a pony owner’s personal choice so don’t count too much on other’s comments. It might be better if you would have a good talk with the coach and see if he has a real interest on teaching horses and helping your mare. Good trainers customarily have the zeal, humor, broad experience and knowledge of horses, and allow the owner’s and not only the horses’to learn from their coaching course.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about equestrian products

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Striving For Finesse In Your Pony Training

March 28, 2012 By 1 Comment

I've seen an epidemic of information on horses and training recommendations and coaching courses crop up like a bad case of measles in recent years. A complete heap of “fresh” training methods have been thrown about and I am really not sure just how effective these techniques were. I never fussed with any of them, because I was rather irritated at a typical feature each one of them had, “they sacrificed finesse”.

Good pony training or actually riding, involves a lot more than just rote words and deeds. By the general standards of most of the training methodologies in vogue nowadays , the job is well done when a pony takes the halter and follows. The task has just begun, and is far from an end. It needs some finesse now, of the kind exhibited by Spanish horse riding customs.

One starting place is when you lead your pony. Your objective for this bit of the training should always be to make your horse follow every single move, nose to your elbow and full slack on the lead rope, wherever you are with him.

Clearly, horse coaching is far more than just getting the pony from point A to pint B.

So far as I can see, the largest obstacle to effective and complete training of horse in today’s world it is a question of time which the majority just don’t have enough of. You can’t train a horse in one or two afternoons over a couple of weeks. It takes some considerable time and a large amount of persistence.

As a coach, you have to be completely concentrated on your horse and your interactions with him. You can’t let training sessions be disrupted by any diversions. When you are focused completely on your pony, the pony will reciprocate. He will give you his complete attention and respond to each move made by you, however slight. Only this level of concentration in both trainer and pony and the perfect coordination it achieves will let you achieve finesse when leading.

When you have achieved that kind of coordination, you can proceed to put the icing on. You can try to get your pony to respond with no lead rope at all. When you achieve that, you have reached the summit.

Now all of what you have read above might lead you to ask just why you would wish to do it all. Why should you take all this hassel?

First, there’s no trouble that is not worth taking if you can achieve a powerful bond and perfect coordination with your pony. When you’re into the exercise, you will find that working at finesse isn’t at all like work, it is a ton of fun.

2nd, and this has more significance, when you have established this type of bond with your horse, it will serve you for good in all the other training. You will find that anything you do with your horse thereafter is a piece of cake.

The best way to finesse is to lead the pony. You don’t need anything more than a lead rope, with a halter. You shouldn’t be giving vocal cues, if you are saying things such as “back” you are not quite there.

Let me wrap up with an illustration. I like going to Ireland’s Dublin Horse Show. I never cease to be surprised by the way that the handlers lead huge horses, a hunter jumper on either side, thru legions of people. I am always left with the distinct feeling that the horses are absolutely blind to the folks around, they are so focused on what they are doing with their handler.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like things about barrel saddles for sale

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How Well Do You Understand Horses

March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Like homo sapiens, horses come in several personality types. I know of plenty of folks who are of the firm opinion that horse’s and their owners who’ve been together a considerable time start looking like one another in personality. This is much the same idea that is discussed in the case of married people and pets and their owners. If you ask me, I think there’s a lot of substance to this theory. That’s what my experience tells me.

I consider it crucial that a pony owner bonds with his pony, and the way to do that is to take the trouble of understanding in depth what makes a horse tick.

A sharpened sense of smell characterizes horses in good health. If you approach your pony with an apple hidden in your pocket, and he has got a craving for apples, he will be all over you. Although apples don’t have much of a smell, he’s going to have smelt out the one in your pocket. He will know just which pocket the apple is in. He will be able to sniff around and elbow you. Out on the trail, your horse will have smelt things you are not even aware of, like walkers, riders, deer, mountain lions, bears and water. When your horse snorts on the trail, you would need to get a little alert.

The horse’s sense of hearing is equally as sharp as his sense of smelling is. These two super senses serve him very well. It is a common sight for horses to prick their ears, flick them around and focus to one side or the other. They’re just showing their sensitiveness to the sounds around them. It’s actually a form of abdominal prey instinct. If your horse’s ears are pricked back toward you while you are riding him, he is paying attention to some cues you are sending out. If you’re sensitive, you will find that your horse uses his ears not simply to listen, but to speak also. If he has his ears pricked forward, he is concentrated on something coming up ahead. Often, you know now something is up in the direction your horse’s ears are pointed at. If your horse should pen his ears, he’s signalling hate or disgruntlement.

Like his ears, a horse’s tail also sends out assorted signals depending on its position. The equine tail bone merely an extension of the spine, but a horse uses it quite as much as he uses his ears. When in a relaxed mood, the pony lets his tail hang in a very normal manner. Occasionally a trotting or cantering pony will keep his tail just a bit away from his body to help him in balancing. When scared, the horse tucks in his tail, rather like a dog. If the tail is lifted high, it signifies contentment or excitement. Horses swish their tails when they are irked or sad.

Naturally, a pony probably uses his tail most for swatting flies.

Horses have keen eyesight, though their vision differs significantly from human vision. Physically, a horse’s eyes are structured differently from human eyes. Horses concentrate on near objects by raising their head and on distant objects by lowering their heads. Horses are colour blind. Their eyes are situated on each side of their heads, and this gives them lateral vision, which means they can see 2 distinct images at the same time. That’s the reason why it’s a smart move that when working on your pony you keep switching between his sides regularly.

Horses are also capable of vocal communication. They use both oral and body language to talk with other horses. You can see them do this regularly if you spend a while at a pasture of horses. If a pony swishes his tail at another, he’s signalling that he would like some space. Horses kick out if they are approached too near by another pony or a human. Horses build domination by shoving against other horses; a pony also pushes another if he would like that pony to move. If you allow them to get away with it, and you definitely shouldn’t, horses will also push against you. If you ignore it, you are risking giving them ideas.

When you become a keen observer, you may also become someone capable of thinking like a pony.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about country supply

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Using A Trained Horse To Help Bring On Your Novices

March 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are two angles you can adopt when talking of pony training, when you’ve got the first of these attitudes, you find training slow, hard and drudgery. You would not be wrong on the “slow and hard” part. If you’re graced with the second attitude, you find coaching loads of fun. You are moulding one of god’s most glorious creatures to your specs.

If you’re one of those lucky ones who find training fun, you must know you can make it even more fun if you use another horse.

You can use other horses to big advantage if you’re coaching horses that are still very young. Here’s some clarification on what I am saying.

I’ve got a pretty standard technique for training foals. My first priority is to get them used to my presence. I even touch them and scratch them and groom them delicately to get them used to human touch and handling. When they are comfortable with me, I put my hat on them. I have my reasons for doing this. My hat desensitises the foals, ears and other areas round the head. Since it is a completely new and probably dangerous object for foals, they should learn to trust me that there is no harm intended, especially since the hat impedes full vision.

Here is where the other horses come in. Without them, the process would be more prolonged and involve harder work. With them, my objectives are met quicker. Since my horses all hang around in a herd, I put my hat on every one of them close to the foal I’m training. These older horses are totally unexcited by my hat, and so they show no reaction whatsoever. Each time I am taking my hat off a pony, I praise that pony fulsomely.

I achieve a significant advantage by doing this. When the foal sees other horses accepting the hat without any reaction in the slightest, it understands the hat is something of no significance at all, negative or otherwise. And when the foal hears the praise the other horses get after wearing the hat, it understands also that there must be something excellent about wearing the hat. The natural consequence is that the foal loses fear of the hat.

I once had an absolutely revealing experience with 4 new Morgan mares I got from Montana. They’d not been trained or handled beyond being halter broke. I had 2 adjacent paddocks, and I put the mares in one and utilized the other for coaching them. I don’t think I have ever had an easier time. All I had to do was bring in one of my trained mares and make a massive show of picking her feet up and cleaning them. Clearly my trained mares endured the process with total detachment. It had been a piece of cake attending to the new mares after that. I was amazed when the last mare actually lifted her front foot up in expectation as I approached her!

In the first stages, I had to go into their paddock and bring them out one at a time for their coaching. About a week later on they were all swarming at the gate, waiting for me, as if each mare was willing for me to choose her first.

When you employ a trained pony as a form of motivating factor for an untrained one, you are not only adding to the fun side of training, you are also making it very easy for the untrained pony. You will be surprised how observant horses can be. I have regularly seen them learn simply by watching other horses. You can make use of this characteristic if you stick to one practice: praise every trained pony handsomely for whatever demonstration it helped you give: the praise mellows the untrained horses and makes them hugely receptive.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about tack shop

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The Correct Horse Riding Seat

March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

From what I’ve seen, horse riders come in 2 types: people who just sit and let the horse take them where he may and people who actually ride a horse. What distinguishes these 2 classes of riders is their usage or non-usage of their seat.

I might be mistaken, but I get the impression the science of proper horse seats has begun to go extinct. In too many shows for comfort, I’ve seen riders sitting tensely way back at the extreme rear end of the saddle, making them hump forward with their legs distressingly positioned to the front. Also , I’ve seen riders with hollow backs, with their rear ends jutting out, in a large amount of English shows.

I feel a bit like screaming at these riders, “You aren’t doing it right!”

You can accomplish the proper seat simply by following the “shoulders, the hips and the heels in a line” guiding principle. What this suggests is from a lateral perspective, you can draw a straight line down from the rider’s shoulders thru his hips down to his heels.

If you master the right seat, you really can afford to ignore all of the buzz that keeps going around about “centred” or “balanced” horse riding. When I figure out just what this term means (an exercise I’ve been engaged in for years now, off and on) I’m going to let you know, if you remain interested. Otherwise, just know one thing right now: the correct seat looks after all the centring and balancing wanted to ride a horse. The correct seat does just what is critical to achieve perfect synchronization between pony and rider: it gets the rider’s centre of gravity to combine ideally with the horse’s centre of gravity. The proper seat is not some stiff oldschool rule that was created simply to guarantee conformance or discipline. It is in truth the only right way to ride a pony.

Somewhere else, I had written articles on the 11 movements horses can make, and how riders can produce them. It can be done just when the riders are seated correctly.

When you sit with your knees jutting out to the front, you’ll not be able to give your horse cues about its rump or its hindquarters. You have got your legs much too far away from the best position to really be able to do that. You are in a situation where you can control only the forward part of your horse. To put it in blunt language: you can’t give your pony a leg clue to the back of the girth when your legs are to the front of the girth.

The weakest parts of a horse’s backbone are to the rear, and when you sit way back, you will have shifted your centre of gravity too far behind. This results in strain and eventually back problems to your pony because he has to adapt to a joint centre of gravity that’s out of kilter and he also has to deal with weight on his spine’s weakest part.

When you hump over with your butt jutting way out, you are making it just about impossible for you to position your arms and hands right.

I had the privilege of getting the correct seat correctly hammered into my skull by some instructors from Germany “folk known for politeness” a normal comment when I ventured too far back on the horse was “you sit on this pony like a chimpanzee on a wet rock” while the meaning of the comment is still confusing to me after all of these years, I do know that it was terribly humbling to be forced to receive it in front of a bunch of chuckling fellow trainees. Of course, there had been some consolation when it was my turn to chuckle.

Talking about coaching, how precisely can you achieve the correct seat? One way is to take lessons. Another easier way is to have some photos taken of yourself when you are riding. It’s going to be easy for you to make out whether you are forming a straight line from shoulder to heel or looking like the stamp of Zorro. When you know where you are going badly wrong, you can practice the right position until you are perfect.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about horse show cloths

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In Search Of Pony Training Excellence

March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In an earlier article on pony coaching, I had claimed the day comes when there’s nothing left to teach. The pony is about as trained as you are actually capable of making it, and after that it’s just a question of watching over the horse’s behavior and performance.

I was only in part right. Exceptions prove rules, and there is an exemption to this one. Horse coaching never ends when you’re endeavoring for excellence.

A long while back in Pheonix, at one of the AMHA’s yearly conventions, a horse owner friend had just finished with a packing clinic. As he wrapped up, another female buddy and I rushed away to move our horses before they started serving dinner. My pony was still charged with practically everything you can pile onto a horse, while my friend’s horse was tacked the English way. We located a free arena and had just got the horses moving when we discovered we were in the midst of some spectators. We were the spectacle.

My buddy did a dressage of level 2 quite close to the rails, while I went roaring up the centre line, sliding to a stop and turning to go again with all sorts of odds and ends flopping around. The horses were freaking out, and so were we. By the time we had wrapped up, more than half of the convention attendees had turned up to watch. The situation was later brought up by the AMHA president as a actual example that vividly illustrated the breed’s flexibility.

My buddies and I talked about things later and came to the conclusion that this was simply the best performance we had ever put up on horseback. Though I wasn’t especially fond of reining, I had achieved sliding stops with reins practically grounded. The girl’s specialization was jumping; she was not particularly into dressage. Our 2 individual horses matched our respective backgrounds, my pony did no reins and hers did no dressage.

So what’s the moral of this story?

A horse is usually trained to a level which is set by the trainer based on the trainer’s own coaching capabilities, not on the horse’s learning capacity. All coaching is then stopped and the owner happily lets the pony stagnate at that level so long as it lives.

You should basically refuse to accept any ceilings for your horse. Operate on the presumption that your pony has room for just a little more improvement. You could be surprised at just how much fun you and your pony could have. Because you’ve finished with the structured coaching, you can go the unstructured route. You can work on anything that takes your fancy, as long as it does not excessively strain your horse. Who can say what extraordinary abilities of your pony you can unearth?

I remember a spell of a couple of years in my life when I was helping a buddy run his ranch, where he also hosted groups of ‘city slickers’ we rode our horses at all times of night and day, testing out all kinds of new tricks, and I don’t have any doubt that on many an occasion camping city people considered us to be lunatics as we went side passing by them. Our philosophy was extraordinarily simple: why not mess around, the horses were prepared and so were we. So what was there to stop us? We continually tried to find something new, like when we became rather good at the side pass, we tested ourselves and our horses to determine if we could do it using little reins.

Obviously, a neverending search for excellence keeps both the rider and horse peppy and consistently on edge. I never ceased to get surprised when a pony I assumed would be knackered out after a day of work would liven up and get chomping at the bit to go for little bit of non-conformist lunacy.

You should try it, It can be superb fun!

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about equestrian wear

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